Les Karaboro et le rônier
Abstract
This article discusses various aspects of the cultivation of a species of palm, Borassus akeassii Bayton, Ouédr. & Guinko, among the Karaboro in south-west Burkina Faso. By cross-referencing oral tradition (our ethnological surveys) and the very rare archival data available, it describes what can be reconstructed of the modes of transmission of knowledge about this plant. It attempts to trace the reasons for its adoption and to specify the period when it took place. Despite the Karaboro’s poor historical memory of this subject, the hypothesis that they were the pioneers of the cultivation of the palmyra palm in this region seems to be valid. Among the Karaboro, the palmyra palm is traditionally seen as a blessing and its possession is a source of pride. Much still has to be clarified, but it seems that the ancestors of the Karaboro adopted the cultivation of Palmyra palm in the 18th century and that their primarily motivation was to alleviate food shortages, the many other uses of the plant only being added later. In recent years, the cultivation of the palmyra palm has undergone radical change in Karaboro country. The Karaboro elderly people continue to lament the gradual decline of this age-old practice, which has made a crucial contribution to the socio-economic and cultural life of the region’s inhabitants.
